‘Seen him evolve from brash young Delhi boy to…’: Former India batter on Virat Kohli after Mishra’s take

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After Amit Mishra’s viral comments on Virat Kohli, former Indian opener Robin Uthappa has hailed the star batter for his evolution as a human.

Former Indian spinner Amit Mishra made heads turn with his comments on Virat Kohli in a recent interaction. During a chat show on YouTube, the ex-leg spinner stated Kohli isn’t the same person and has changed a lot since gaining fame and power whereas Rohit Sharma remains unchanged. His remark on Kohli went viral but now former Indian opener Robin Uthappa has hailed Kohli’s evolution from a brash young Delhi boy to an evolved human being.

Speaking on cricket.com/tv, Uthappa said, “I have actually seen Virat kind of evolve from a brash young Delhi boy to an evolved human being. You know the evolution has been quite tremendous, to be honest. Today he’s practically reaping what he had sown 15 years ago.”

“One of the things that has always stood out to me about Cheeku has been his conviction in himself. When I listen to a young 19-year-old Virat Kohli, you know talking about himself or his conviction in himself, you’ll get mortified, you’ll be like ‘What is this dude talking about?’. “But fast forward 10 years and you be like ‘Okay now that makes sense.'”

 

Uthappa, the 2007 T20 World Cup winner, further opined that despite being super successful, Kohli is ‘obsessed’ with working hard. He added, “A lot of these things is all fluff and no stuff, but Virat showed us that there was stuff behind the talk as well. He is obsessed. I remember went last year to interview some of the RCB boys, and finished his interview, and then the next thing you know that he’s in the gym, and he doesn’t need to be, but he was there in the gym, hashing out an hour-long workout before he went back and spent time with his family.”

At 35, Kohli is possibly in the last phase of his glittering international career. The former Indian captain has played 113 Tests where he has 8,848 runs at 49.15 along with 29 centuries. In ODIs, Kohli has a whopping 13,848 in 292 matches at an average of 58.67 with as many as 50 centuries under his belt. After India’s 2024 T20 WC triumph last month, he retired from T20Is — ending with 4,188 runs (second-most) in 125 games.